Sunday, November 13, 2016

For the last month, we've had a new guest in the
apartment: Tobiko, a Betta fish, swimming in a bowl in the living room. He was
the first fish that I've had in my living space for decades, though we had a
large 10 gallon fish tank full of fish when I was just a young boy which I
recall being a lot of work as well as entertaining.

He looked just like this the last week or so: unhealthy and sad.

Unfortunately, Tobiko gave up the swim this
weeked, despite our efforts.

After the first few weeks, he'd become lethargic
and wasn't eating much at all compared to the first few weeks. We tried what we
could, including raising the temperature of the tank to a more comfortable
level and providing him more places to shelter/hide if needed, but it didn't do
any good.

Though he's gone now, what I'll always remember
is the excitement he showed as soon as I approached his tank and started
speaking to him. He obviously recognized my voice and presence and knew that it meant
food... and so he fluttered around the nearest point of the bowl in anticipation of
being fed. It was touching to see how just my voice could induce incitement in
a small creature and I'm honestly sad that he wasn't able to adapt to his new
home so he could be with us still.

Safe travels, little buddy - you'll be missed.

Nov 8 – And the winner is...?

I have no words...

Well, no, that's not true: I have a metric
crap-ton of words, and few of them are complimentary, but I'll boil it down to
just a few to string together:

What the F*ck,
America?

Okay, I know, it's not my country, but as a
Canadian there's an old saying: if the USA catches a cold, Canada sneezes.
Maybe not the most apt analogy, but it'll do for now, because in my eyes, the
USA just took a flying leap often unknown cliff. I sat down tonight to see by
how much of a margin Hillary Clinton would win, and I was up well past midnight
with wide eyes as her misogynistic, eminently unqualified-to-be-president
opponent took the lead - and won.

How, you might ask, did this happen?

Not asking 'why' along with that question would
only give you half the answer, which is complicated: voter apathy, repressed
anger, and campaign errors compounded by the media all added together to give
Trump the US presidency.

It's shocking
to me, and to millions all across the globe.

To also have seen a great candidate like Bernie Sanders
knocked out of the race early was just rubbing salt in the wound, but I'd hoped
that reason would swing the vote in Hillary's favour - not because she was a
perfect candidate, but because she was qualified to be the US Ppresident, unlike Trump.

Well I don't think it's the apocalypse, as a President is not a dictator under the way the US
Constitution works, but it certainly not going to be a fun ride by all early accounts. I
do find it interesting that a similar situation was posited when Ronald Reagan
came the presidency in the 80s, in that that as a retired actor, few people
thought he was qualified to be president, but it turned out to be a solid
presidency of moderation that resulted in a decade of swift economic growth both for the USA and the world.

I'm reserving my judgment for now, and I'm going
to let the hysteria pass me by: I want to see what positive things Trump is
capable of rather than focusing on the negative things that everyone assumes
he's going to force on the US people. You can read some excellent opinions on
the situation here in this New York Times article, which contains points from
both sides and has far less hysteria then you might have seen in the media this
week.

Let's just hope this isn't the beginning of
something else altogether...

Nov 9 – Stepping Back

For the next 3-4 months, I won't be doing much at
all: rather, a lot of a little.

I've been distracted too long, worried about too
many little things with too little result, because I'm being pulled mentally in
so many directions at once.

That has to stop.

In my experience, worrying about something
doesn't generally produce a solution: you have to sit down and set aside the
time to just think about things honestly and after that, don't keep
pouring time and energy into worry.

My books aren't going to write themselves and with
that in mind, I have to focus my admittedly-reduced energies of late on fewer
things, one of them being my writing. A little bit every day will make a huge
difference in the long run.

Getting a better position at work will also help, and to
that end I've been working on getting some additional technical certifications,
though again that takes time to do properly. Applying for positions for the
last year and not getting anywhere has been frustrating, so I'm being careful
not to fall into the trap of thinking "I'm just not good enough, that's
why nobody's bothering to get back to me," which isn't true. I do know
that I've plateaued at my current position and while it's
great to go to work without being majorly stressed, it's also quite apparent
that my position( that I've held
for two years now… )isn't going to do much to advance me financially or
challenge me professionally.

It's past
time to move on and move up in some of the bigger aspects of my life.

Nov 10 –Am I... ?

I had a dream last night that I was one of my
characters: Niishe.

This was the first time I've ever dreamed about
being a character from one of my stories, and it caught me off guard, as it
wasn't a dream about Adventure or action or anything to do with the story she
hailed from.

Instead, it was a dream about helping people.

Waking up this morning, that thought was still
with me, that I dreamed about being someone other than myself but that I knew
very well... and whose actions I understood. In some way, I was dreaming about
myself, in that I also highly value helping others, as part of my own moral
center that I can count no matter what.

In dreaming that I was Niishe, I was perhaps
reaffirming that the center of her character contains a pillar founded on
helping others, which she is much more qualified to do than I am, given her gifts
and abilities.

I also think it's presicent that I dreamed of
being her this week, after feeling so helpless watching the election events
unfold in the USA a few nights ago. I wonder what it would be like if we lived
in a world where superheroes existed, where people had to abilities far beyond
the norm...

Though I wonder: how many of them would use those
abilities for good?

Nov 11 – Arrival

The movies are back, and better than ever here in town!

Three years ago, a unique cinema location in
Victoria closed down: the Capitol 6 Empire Theatres that has been on the
corner of Yates and Blanshard since 1981. It's striking and unique
architectural design, including its huge corner-glass sloping canopy made it a
landmark of downtown Victoria and many were sad to see it's close it's doors
due to the parent company wanting to sell the property.

Old exterior, new COMFY seats!

Fortunately, that never happened, thanks to
Andrew Golin VP of Regency Theatres from the USA and son of the famous
projectionist Harry Golin. He purchased the theatre and installed luxury
reclining seats with motorized controls, repositioning the theater as a luxuryvenue for Victoria - well done!

My lady and I went to see the new movie Arrival
today at the theatre, which I'd only ever been to see a movie at once( and
that for free, as it happened ). It was great to be on the other
side of the doors that I've been walking by for the last few years, with the lights on and
smiling people inside walking up the unique spiral lobby ramp.

Arrival was a fantastic film,
well-written and well-acted, with special effects that complemented to the
story instead of dominating it's as many sci-fi films tend to have happened. It
was a smart and solid experience, made all the better by the extraordinary
comfort of the reclining seats in the theater and the fact that it cost only
$10.00 to see the film, which in this day and age is remarkable in itself.

I'll be back, to support the continued
operation of this unique and classic theater.

Nov 12 – Gaming in the Clouds!

My lady and I had a great day together, gaming
in a lounge, on top of Victoria.

I should explain: we'd wanted to play some
boardgames this afternoon, but didn't want to spend the day inside at either of our
places... nor did the idea of being stuck in a noisy, crowded cafe` or similar
public place have its appeal, either.

The solution? Go up!

We headed to Vista18,
a restaurant on the 18th floor of a hotel in the downtown... which, after lunch
at 1:30pm, was about as busy as a library at midnight - perfect! We ordered
some drinks and sat down to enjoy a few hours of gaming together, which continued
until a little past 4:30pm, when the evening crowd began to arrive and we had to
call it quits due to the nois and bustle.

Still, we managed to get in three games of Hive,
two games of DragonWood( my fave! )and even a game of Castellan,
at which I still admittedly am terrible. Next time we decide to make it a games
day, we'll take a table around the corner instead of by the bar, away from any potential loud
travelers who decide to take in a mid-afternoon drink, of which there were an
unfortunate few today - but not many, or too loud overall.

And, while it's still more than a few years in the future
until I have a house to call my own, but I think I'd like to have one of these rooms available to game in when the mood strikes:

So... fantastic...

Nov 13 – Rainy Day Games!

Continuing the trend this weekend, I went in the
afternoon today to a friend's place to play Munchkin and
Exploding Kittens!

Guess which colour I am? :-)

I ended up winning 2 of the 3 games of Munchkin
through some good strategy with a little luck, as well as a game of E.Kittens,
so it was an afternoon well-spent: fun and victory combine well in my
books, especially when it's kinda yucky out. So relaxing...

Also, this morning I FINISHED reading SOTDC(
Shadows Of The Dark Crystal )which is the new novel I received last
week, written by my friend! It was so good! I wish I could tell you about
it here, but as I don't want to give out any spoilers, all I can say is: go
read it now. I'll be doing a roundtable on the podcast Trial By Stone
in early December, so you can hear my thoughts on the novel along with a few
other folks... but again, best that you've read the novel beforehand.

To boot, tonight I updated my novel's website, as
I've done every month for the last 2 years... but I'm a little odd in that I
like to keep that site separate from my blog: business versus personal, you
know. It's good though, in that a search of my author pen-name will to date not
pop up any link to my personal blog... and the novel's website usually doesn't
come up until the 5th page of Google's results, which I have to admittedly work
on. Though I get very few hits per month, I still do the updates, because they
function as a reminder of where I've been while producing the novel.. also
incentive to get some BIG updates in there soon.

More time spent writing, less time spent
blogging... focus. I'll leave you to ponder with the words of Kurt Vonnegut, one
of the better scifi writers of the last century:

I am definitely walking better this week, using
my cane mainly for balance... and it's working, as my legs only ache slightly
at the end of each day, as long as I'm careful about what I do / how fast I go
about things. I won't many any preductions for this coming week, just that I
hope it's going to be the best week yet for getting back to normal...